No, it is not a "hobby", thank you very much

I was talking to one of my housemates last night, who was confused about where I'd been that evening. As it happened, I'd been at a Christian Union meeting.

"But I thought that was Thursday," she said.

"No, no, you see, Thursday is when I'm at my church's study group," I replied. "Monday is CU Lads' Group [a name that sometimes seems a little cringeworthy for some reason], not to be confused with the main CU meeting on Wednesday. Perfectly easy to follow."

"Do you enjoy going to all of these?" she asked.

That was the point at which I realised quite how easy it is for something that I've enjoyed - going to various church and CU meetings and gatherings - to more or less take over my life. I had a think about this afterwards, and realised that in a typical week I go to seven of these events, at least one on every day other than Saturday. There's very little else that I do with my time at the moment, other than work. (And wasting time posting long screeds online. But we don't mention that.)

I certainly don't dislike this situation - in answer to the question I was asked, I do enjoy being so involved in the life of the church and the CU, and if I was finding it a drag I wouldn't continue - but still, surely doing so much in one sphere and so little outside it cannot be a good thing in the long run. It's like people who play sport to a high level, or get so into their job that they take it home with them; their life narrows to the point where there are the things they have to do, and the one thing they like to do, and that's about it.

Living as a Christian in the world, as we're told so many times in places like 1 Peter 2, is about living among the people here, not withdrawing into our own little shuttered communities (I'm looking at YOU, Amish people...). Yes, in the end, our home is heaven. But right now, we live here. I think I need to have a look at just what I'm doing with my time here, and maybe try to spend it in a slightly more varied manner, before I end up spending all week in the same way.